POPSUGAR Celebrity

6 Engaging Books to Teach Kids Math

Jun 26 2014 - 3:16am

The following post was written by Renee Bergeron, who blogs at A Baker's Dozen and Apollo XIV [1] and is part of POPSUGAR Select Moms [2].

Interested in keeping your kids' math skills sharp without letting them know they're learning? Here is a list of amazing math books your kids will love! We have each and every one of these books in our home collection!

The Warlord's Beads (and the other Warlord's book) [3]
These engaging books will introduce your children to math concepts without them even knowing it. The stories in these books are genuinely interesting and don't feel contrived like many other math-themed books I've seen. The illustrations are colorful, and while aimed at kids ages 8-12, even my 3-year-old enjoys these.

What's Your Angle, Pythagoras? [4]
Introduce your children to the Pythagorean theorem before they even know what algebra is! In this book, Pythagoras is a curious young boy who uses his apt mind and quick wit to discover math . . . and get out of trouble!

Sir Cumference Series [5]
The books are set in medieval times with knights, castles, and dragons. The have fun pictures and witty (or sometimes painfully silly) puns connecting math concepts with the correct mathematical terminology. These cover a variety of topics in the fields of geometry and algebra. The math is a little more obvious in these books, but my kids love them all the same.

The Librarian Who Measured the Earth [6]
This book tells the story of how Eratosthenes of Cyrene came up with a mathematical formula back in 200 BC to measure the Earth! This picture book has beautiful illustrations.

One Odd Day and My Even Day [7]
These two complementary books use silly illustrations and scenarios to introduce the concepts of even and odd. My kids love to point out inconsistencies in the pictures.

The Number Devil [8]
The Number Devil is a page-turning chapter book that will make you think of math in brand-new ways. Whether you are 10 or an adult, I guarantee at some point you will find yourself saying, "I didn't know that!" Even better, this book has colorful illustrations to keep pulling the younger readers along.